Whistler fundraiser supports new spinal cord research centre

John Ryan says new VGH facility to be ‘best of its kind in the
world’

British Columbia is preparing to take the lead in spinal cord
research and the treatment of spinal cord injuries, thanks partly to the
efforts of Whistler residents John and Penny Ryan.

On Tuesday the provincial government announced an additional
$12.9 million in funding for a state-of-the-art $45 million research and
treatment facility that will be part of Vancouver General Hospital and house
the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, or ICORD.

The new six-storey, 11,000 square metre Blusson Pavilion
— named in recognition of the Blusson family’s contributions to the Rick
Hansen Foundation — will treat and rehabilitate people with spinal cord
injuries, while conducting research into new methods for both treatment and
rehabilitation.

Premier Gordon Campbell was at the groundbreaking for the new
centre.

“This is the only facility in Canada, and one of only two in
the world, that brings researchers from so many disciplines together with
surgeons, physiotherapists and patients to discover and develop new therapies
for spinal cord injuries,” said Campbell.

Whistler’s John Ryan — who was paralyzed in a car
accident in 1994 and has spent the last eight years raising money for spinal
cord research — says the idea for a new research centre has been in the
works for a decade.

“It’s exciting, simply because I’ve known about the dream to
build this centre for 100-plus years and now it’s a go to do it,” he said. “In
talking to (ICORD director) Dr. John Steeves, I think this facility is probably
going to be the best of its kind in the world when it’s up and running. It will
make a huge difference in how spinal cord injuries are treated.”

In the past, the treatment of spinal cord injuries was
decentralized, with hospital emergency rooms and rehabilitation centres like
G.F. Strong accepting patients at different stages of their injury and
recovery.

“Somebody like myself who has an injury will be there from the
time they arrive in an ambulance to the time they leave,” explained Ryan.
“Before it was quite fragmented, you had to go to certain places to get certain
things. Rehabilitation was in a different facility, for example, and you had to
constantly go back to the hospital for different tests and treatments.

“Now patients will even have the ability to come back
post-rehab to get physiotherapy or occupational therapy, there will be fitness
facilities specific to people with disabilities — it’s really one-stop
shopping.”

The other benefit of the centre, Ryan adds, is that all of the
researchers, doctors and therapists will be under one roof and working
together. ICORD currently has more than 300 researchers, trainees, technicians
and support staff working in 20 different locations around Vancouver who will
be brought together in the Blusson Pavilion.